Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.

Is my backflo valve working?

Please help!! I have a rainbird sprinkler syst and just replaced my controller. Two of my 3 zones do not work. I have a FEBCO 765 BACKFLOW valve and do not know wether it works or not. It has two handles that are rusted and hard to turn. Can somebody tell me if the Febco valve is at fault? or could it be something else?[]

How could the backflow be at fault if at least one of the zones works.

OK, lets get a little more specific. The FEBCO 765 is a backflow preventer. It prevents irrigation water from getting back into your drinking water. The handles you are talking about are just extra shutoffs used when testing this PVB to certify that it is working properly to prevent backflow. It doesn't matter how rusty the handles are, they are just there to turn the ball valves contained with the PVB. The PVB does not get turned on and off with the irrigation zones, so if one of the zones works and the others don't, then either the backflow is ok, or the working zone is connected before the PVB.

So my suggested next steps:
Try to turn the zones on mannually (i.e. go to where the valves are and try to turn the know the wires are connected to. If that works, then is sounds like an electrical/electronic problem. If that fails, then you have more of a mechanical problem.

If you have an electrical problem, here's some additional things to try. Move the wires on the controller to the zone that works (i.e. we know that at least one of the zones on the controller work). Does the problem stay with the zone in the yard, or does the problem stay with where the wires are connected to the controller.

Even before you do that, you might want to simply attempt to "rebot" the controller. Unplug is and perhaps even remove the batteries. Let is sit like that for maybe 10 minutes. The reinsert the batteries and plug the controller back in to see if that fixes the problem.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by HooKooDooKu</i>
<br />How could the backflow be at fault if at least one of the zones works.

OK, lets get a little more specific. The FEBCO 765 is a backflow preventer. It prevents irrigation water from getting back into your drinking water. The handles you are talking about are just extra shutoffs used when testing this PVB to certify that it is working properly to prevent backflow. It doesn't matter how rusty the handles are, they are just there to turn the ball valves contained with the PVB. The PVB does not get turned on and off with the irrigation zones, so if one of the zones works and the others don't, then either the backflow is ok, or the working zone is connected before the PVB.

So my suggested next steps:
Try to turn the zones on mannually (i.e. go to where the valves are and try to turn the know the wires are connected to. If that works, then is sounds like an electrical/electronic problem. If that fails, then you have more of a mechanical problem.

If you have an electrical problem, here's some additional things to try. Move the wires on the controller to the zone that works (i.e. we know that at least one of the zones on the controller work). Does the problem stay with the zone in the yard, or does the problem stay with where the wires are connected to the controller.

Even before you do that, you might want to simply attempt to "rebot" the controller. Unplug is and perhaps even remove the batteries. Let is sit like that for maybe 10 minutes. The reinsert the batteries and plug the controller back in to see if that fixes the problem.

OK.. TKS A LOT... I WILL CHECK ALL OF THOSE SPOTS YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.. IT REALLY MAKES SENSE.. I THINK THAT PROBABLY MY FIRST STATION IS AHEAD OF THE FLOWVALVE. BUT WANT TO MAKE SURE I'M NOT MISTAKEN. SO, EITHER WAY I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING.. TKS AGAIN